by G. Jack Urso
Early History
Bohemia is derived from the Latin
name for the land, Boiohaemum. The Latin word was itself derived from the name
of the Celtic Boii tribe who inhabited the area during the Fourth Century BC
Slavs first entered the region in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries AD by settling
in areas of what is now Slovakia and Moravia. Christianity first arrived in the
latter half of the Ninth Century (“History”). It is from Bohemia that the
legend of “Good King Winceslas” (Prince Václav, death 935 AD), the patron saint
of Bohemia, comes to us (Thomson 18).
The Czech language is a Slavic
tongue and has a rich tradition among the Czech, as the right to use their own
language had not always been guaranteed by their rulers, was sometimes
repressed, and therefore its existence that much more valued. The Czech today
continue to study and preserve their language as evident by numerous university
programs and the rich history of film and literature be produced by Czech
artists and authors in the Twentieth Century.
Bohemian princes that sought
independence were constrained by the German Ostmark (Eastern March), which was
defined as the area between the Enns to Litava using the Danube as a natural
boundary. Kamil Krofta, the Czech historian, politician and diplomat, observed
that the Czech formulated a pragmatic response to promote their political
existence. Krofta wrote, “Their power they extended not by fighting but by
valuable services rendered to the German sovereigns. Beginning in the Twelfth
Century, Bohemian Princes joined the ranks of the Electors of the German Emperor
and thereafter was able to have some effect on the politics of the Holy Roman
Empire (Moravec 20).
In 1085, in return for supporting
the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, Vratislav becomes the First Czech king. In
1158 Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa gave the royal title to be held by the Czech
rulers and their descendants. Barbarossa though had the overall agenda of
trying to assimilate Czech lands into the Imperial feudal holdings and
attempted to break Bohemia up as part of this plan. In 1182 he put Moravia
under his feudal vassalage as a margravate, an agreement made under duress as
Barbarossa had executioners axes prominently displayed during the
“negotiations” with the Czech legates (Thomson 22).
In 1186 the Margrave of Moravia
declared their vassalage to the Duke of Bohemia thus nullifying Barbarossa’s
attempt to break up the land. Barbarossa made a second attempt in 1187 to break
up Bohemia by promoting the Bishop of Prague to a prince of the Empire. This
period lasted for ten years until the next bishop came to office and declared
his vassalage to the Duke of Bohemia, which frustrated yet another plan to
break up the Czech homeland. In 1212, Premysl Otakar I (crowned king in 1204)
received the Golden Bull of Sicily from Pope Innocent III. This assured the
integrity of the Bohemian lands and gave it legal recognition from the Vatican
(Thomson 23, 25).
The aforementioned incidents
establish something of a pattern in Czech history: A Czech is crowned king
(1085), or the nation-state is created (1918), but, either way, due to foreign
intervention. Germany (in the guise of Fredrick Barbarossa, Prussia, or Adolf
Hitler) threatens and tries to break up or absorb the Czech lands. In any
event, the Bohemian rulers were recognized as kings and the Czech remained
unified because of their strong cultural identity.
1415-1815
The Hussite period marks a
vigorous chapter in the development of the Czech identity. During this period
the Bohemian nobility grew in wealth, political power and influence. The
bourgeoisie also grew stronger and took the place that the Germans occupied in
urban life. While language and nationalism grew during this period art and
education did not. As the first land to experience and embrace the Reformation,
Bohemia also experienced great isolation from the other European countries. As
a result the ideas of the Renaissance would be sorely missed among the Czech
and contributed to the fall the quality of Czech art and education (Thomson
89).
The reign of George of Podebrady
(1458-1471) is a brief interlude of intelligent rule by an elected native
Bohemian ruler. It was during his rule that Czech humanism, language and
religious beliefs were preserved and prospered. George’s death though meant that
the chance for a dynasty of strong rulers native to Bohemia had passed (Sugar
173)]. The next two rulers comprise the Jagellon dynasty (Vladislav, a son of
King Casimir of Poland, and his son Louis) under which the strength of the
Bohemian monarchy fell. The Czech-Bohemian Estates gained political power and
the Catholic obtained an agreement for “mutual toleration” with the Hussites
(Thomson 90).
The push for greater Catholic influence would continue under the Habsburgs, who would begin to rule in 1526. The ensuing conflict between the Estates and the Habsburg rulers would end in a major turning point in Czech nationalist history, the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.
The push for greater Catholic influence would continue under the Habsburgs, who would begin to rule in 1526. The ensuing conflict between the Estates and the Habsburg rulers would end in a major turning point in Czech nationalist history, the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.
Fig 1: Map of Europe in 1526 (Greer and Lewis 315). |
The possibility of war between
Rudolf and his brother Mathias, Governor of Moravia, led Rudolf to seek support
from the Protestant Czech-Bohemian Estates. In return for their support Rudolf
granted them the Letter of Majesty, “Maiestatus,” which permitted the modest
freedom of religious confession despite efforts by the Spanish Ambassador and
the Papal Nuncio to persuade him otherwise (Greer 102, 105).
Rudolf’s grant of religious
tolerance earns him the wrath of the Catholic community in Europe who then
support Mathias in his effort to dispose his brother. When Mathias is crowned
Holy Roman Emperor in 1612 the Protestant Bohemian Estates refuse to recognize
the new Emperor’s heir and form their own provisional government and army. In 1619
Mathias dies leaving both the Holy Roman and Bohemian crowns without a head to
sit on. With support from Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia the Bohemian Estates
elected Fredrick Elector Palatine as King of Bohemia the same year.
When Emperor Ferdinand II ascended
to the imperial throne the Catholic forces under his command moved against
Fredrick who prepared for battle in a highly defensible position near Prague on
the White Mountain. Once Fredrick, the “Winter King,” is defeated Prague is
sacked (Dupuy and Dupuy).
The aftermath of White Mountain
strips Bohemia of many of its best and brightest. Religious freedom is
eliminated, Protestant pastors are exiled and replaced with Catholic priests.
The nobility suffers the loss of their lands and the Jesuits reassert control
of the university. Leaders of the Estates fled the country along with the
Protestants. It is believed that five-sixths of the Czech nobility fled,
including a total of 150,000 Protestants, all within the first six years after
the loss at White Mountain (Thomson 108-109).
This Bohemian exodus would give
rise to the second definition for Bohemian we may find in the dictionary. A
bohemian is also a common term referring to “a person with artistic or literary
interests who disregards conventional standards of behavior” (“Bohemian”). A
transient life is also a component of this “Bohemian” lifestyle. In this
definition we can see elements of the truth – the Czech high cultural traditions
present in the artistic and literary interests of the “bohemian” artist.
The
main impact of this exodus, other than the introduction of a new word to our
vocabulary, was the loss of the Czech ruling elite. This loss of leadership
would plague the Czech throughout the next 300 years. František Palacký’s
attempts at fulfilling Czech nationalist aspirations can be said to have been
thwarted by this absence. The rebellion in Prague and the events at White
Mountain would also trigger the Thirty Years War.
The Peace of Westphalia brought
to an end the Thirty Years War. German princes were given independent
sovereignty, which stripped the Holy Roman Empire of much of its power.
Switzerland and the Netherlands gained their independence and Calvinists,
Lutherans, as well as Catholics were granted religious freedom (Thomason 400).
Territorial changes are noted on the following map:
Fig. 2: Europe after Westphalia, 1648 (Greer and Lewis 401). |
Related Content
Works Cited
“Bohemian.” The American Heritage Dictionary Second College
Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982. Print.
Dupuy, Ernest R., and Trevor N. Dupuy. The Harper Encyclopedia of
Military History, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins
Publishers, 1993. Print.
Greer, Thomas H., and Gavin Lewis. A Brief History of the Western
World, Sixth Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
College Publishers, 1992. Print.
History. Czech Republic, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 1999.
<http://www.czech.cz/czech/history.html>.
Moravec, Col. Emanuel. The Strategic Importance of
Czechoslovakia for Western Europe. Prague: Orbis Printing
and Publishing Co., 1936. Print.
Sugar, Peter F., and Ivo John Lederer, eds. Nationalism in Eastern
Europe. Seattle & London: University of Washington Press,
1994. Print.
Thomson, Harrison S. Thomson, Czechoslovakia in European
History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953. Print.
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